What I think about the Apple Watch!

On my birthday, my boyfriend and I went to the Apple Store. The Apple Watch had just come to some stores worldwide and we wanted to see what models they had available. I was not sure if I wanted one as they are indeed quite expensive and with the functionality of only kind of being a remote to your phone I didn’t see much sense in it… yet. However, I saw the Apple Keynote at WWDC and knew a new Watch OS would be coming soon that would also allow native apps and connection between phone and Watch via Wi-Fi. This made it worth looking at the Watch and at least thinking about getting one. I love to play with new toys, and if I see the least reason why I should get it then I usually want it. 😉

My boyfriend already owned an Apple Watch and was kind of happy with it but didn’t play with it much yet.

Standing in the Apple Store I tried out the sapphire crystal one with the blue band – this is the one I originally liked most, but I really fell in love with the black Sports Watch as it had a nice mat black frame instead of the silver one. I tried out the 38mm version of it and really liked it. But still, the price…

My boyfriend was like: You want one! I think he only said that because he wanted a Watch buddy. He wanted to send me his heartbeat.

So, well, I couldn’t leave the Apple Store without getting it, so… I got it. Kind of a birthday present to myself.

Proud of my new toy I opened it at the restaurant we had my birthday dinner at. Even though, I did not like the design of the Watch at first, it kind of grew on me and I actually don’t find it too bad now. But I am still excited about seeing new, more elegant and beautiful designs in the future.

As my iPhone was very low on battery – as I got all the birthday messages – I could only connect my Watch and do some first basics like deciding what apps I would want to be seen on the phone, and what Watch faces I wanted but then playing time was over.

So, the next day, I tried out everything, sent smileys back and forth with my boyfriend via Messages, used Siri, figured out activity (you need to set up your personal data via the Apple Watch app) and went through my apps and looked what they would look like on the Watch.

After some googling, we also figured out how to send a heartbeat. We did have quite some fun with that!

So, about 1.5 months later, what do I think about the Apple Watch and how do I use it?

I must still say: I love it!

First, I wanted to swap between my Apple Watch and my normal watch – that I really like – from day to day but the activity tracker got me.

I want to reach my stand, exercise and calorie burning goal every day. So, I need to wear my watch. 🙂 I am also more independent from my phone. It can stay on my desk at work or in my handbag when I’m outside. I don’t feel the urge to constantly check if I got a message. My Watch would tell me. And also, if it vibrates, I can risk a quick glance and know whether it’s important to get my phone or not. I can’t wait for more apps like Whatsapp and Viber to be available natively so that replies are possible. With my friends, we do not use iMessage much, we rather use Whatsapp. With iMessage however, it works great. I already used the pre-defined replies or sent smileys.

Another great thing is the phone app. The Watch quickly vibrates when you receive a phone call. You immediately know, it’s a call. You can either take it on the Watch or get your phone or even answer on the Watch and switch to your phone during the call. It’s seamless. This is a really good feature for me as my iPhone is usually on silent. I never hear it. I only see the missed calls and call back. With the Watch, it vibrates and I can quickly grab my phone and don’t miss calls anymore. My friends and family are thankful for that. They would always say: Why do you have a phone if you don’t hear it?

What else do I like so much about it?

Shazam

I am a big Shazam fan. As Shazam has an Apple Watch version of their app it’s even more convenient now to track and identify music. I love it. I can be at a party, just tap on my Watch and I know what song it is!

Runtastic

I wanted to track my route once I was on my bicycle and was looking for a tracking app. I realised that Runtastic, which I already had on my phone, did exactly that. So, I started using it for bicycling, then continued with motorcycling, running and Zumba. Really cool, I can see all my activity. However, I wish, I could start the app from my Watch. Instead, I have to start in on my iPhone and can then keep track of my activity on the Watch. Also for stopping it I need my phone again. Here, I see some room for improvement.

Calendar

The calendar app is practical for work – cause here I simply have more appointments than in my private life. Is that sad? I guess it’s just what it is. I used to grab my phone to see what the appointments of the day were. Now, I can do that from my Watch. I used to have the calendar view as part of my Watch face but then I did not like it so much as it would take too much space. Thus, I either check the app – you can also have it in “checks” – or I simply get notifications when an appointment is due.

Outlook

Even though, we heard some good and some bad news about the Microsoft’s Outlook app I like to get the notifications. I know that I can also get notifications with the native mail app. But as I have several accounts in that one I did not want to get notifications each time some email reaches the inbox of any of these accounts. So, I use the Outlook app for work mail notifications. I finally use native mail to work on the emails, but I like to be notified. The push is even faster than with Outlook on my desktop. Now that Outlook is available for the Apple Watch and even offers the capability to reply to emails it added an immense value to the Watch! I get notifications and I also have it set up in checks. I can never miss an email anymore and during my lunch break I can already dismiss or mark the emails as read that only needed to be acknowledged. So, I find myself with less emails in my inbox when I come back to the office. You can archive, delete, mark as read, flag, schedule and reply to emails.

iTranslate and Microsoft Translator

Working and living in an international environment and with international people I have the need to translate some words here and there. Translator apps are very handy to do that. I used to use iTranslate on my iPhone. Then I also read about Microsoft Translator having their app available for the Apple Watch. While I already had iTranslate on my Watch I added Microsoft Translator and compared. iTranslate does not recognise the words so well. Microsoft Translator however does a really good job. The nice thing is also that you can save your translated sentences in case you need them again. It would also show you the latest translated words or sentences. So, I believe it is really useful. You can either read the translation or have the app read it to you. So, in case you are in Japan or so you can simply have your Watch pronounce the words and you are good to go.

Remote for music or audiobooks

In your checks you can have the “playing now” feature and play and pause your music or audiobooks. I also own an UE Boom loudspeaker and love to listen to audiobooks at home while I’m cleaning, washing the dishes or hanging my laundry on the rack. I can efficiently use my time. If I change the room I can take the loudspeaker with me or I simply stop the book from my Watch and continue when I’m ready again. This added so much flexibility and efficiency to my daily routines.

Remote for Keynote

I am also keen to try out the remote functionality of the keynote app. When I present at conferences I usually do that from my iPad – I only travel with my iPad – and I use Keynote. So, next time I present I will try that out and give you an update. Or, has anybody tried it yet?

You can see I am very happy with my Apple Watch so far and I can’t wait for it to come with more functionality. We definitely need to be able to become more reactive on the Apple Watch. Siri works great so far. So, I can imagine to answer e-mails using Siri who I dictate them to. I once had a broken wrist and could not type on my keyboard – only one handed, but that does not take you far. So, I used “Dragon Dictation” on my iPhone and dictated whole emails and reports. Of course, whenever it was possible I took the phone to reach people. This was a quite good exercise actually, as it made me speak to people more. But this is another discussion.

I hope I could give you some insight into my life with an Apple Watch. I am excited to hear what apps you are using or what your opinion about the Apple Watch is in general!

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